


Smart

by TopazWolf (ShadowBobcat10)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dystopia, Future, Gen, Human Eugenics, Original Fiction, School, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-05-22 22:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6095998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowBobcat10/pseuds/TopazWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amery has never been good at school.  In fact, she's just about the bottom of her class, and this is impacting on her future greatly.  Oh, and one more thing.  Her city bases everything on intelligence, and if Amery stays this bad, she could very well lose everything and more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Grades, Tag, and Johana

I stood in line in front of the grader. The test took me two hours, and Integrated Science-Math 2 was just a stupid class. True, I was really bad at science, but I didn't need to have my elective replaced by the subjects I hated the most. 

The grader spit out a receipt. 80.24%, B-, the best grade I'd gotten all year, but not high enough. My parents expected me to get grades like my siblings. They were average, but average in this city meant genius in any other city. Eugenics meant only the smartest people lived in our city. 

"Psst," Tag whispered. "What did you get?" He already got his grade. 93.2%, much better than me. 

I followed Tag away from the grader and gave him my receipt. He sighed. We were all "idiots" in this class, but I had to be the stupidest. My parents both graduated at the top of their class, so they were one of the few allowed to have three children. It would have totally been fine if I, the youngest, wasn't a bonehead. 

"Hey, it's better than your bio test," Tag said, winking. I'd gotten a 74% on that one. 

"True," I said, leaving the class. Last and worst class of the day was Integrated Science-Math 2. I looked forward to swimming in my pool. My pool, and no one else's pool. Did I mention that my parents' smarts made them automatically wealthy? 

Tag followed me home, being the best friend ever. My parents hated his grades and his sense of humor. More the reason I had to be his friend. 

I walked in my front door, savoring the smell of cinnamon wafting through the halls. Mom always sets it on cinnamon. 

"I love your house, Amery," Tag said. His house was nowhere nears as decked out as mine. 

"Me too," I responded. "Is anyone home?" I asked the house. 

"Johana is home," my house responded. 

"Darn," I hissed. Oh course, my average (read heck of smart) sister would be visiting. After the Central Computer matched her up with Assic, she'd been coming home and more often. 

I started upstairs, Tag following. "Where's she?" I said. A video feed of Johana's room showed up on my eyescreen. 

"Johana is in Bedroom C," the house responded. 

Tag smiled, hearing the house's response. "At least she's not screwing up your room." 

I focused and zoomed in on the receipt I could see in Johana's hand. "Oh great, she's got my bio test," I said, pushing Tag the video feed. We speed up the stairs, rushing into the room and nearly knocking the door off its hinges. 

"Whoa," Johana shouted. "What are you doing in _my_ room?" 

Johana's electric blue hair fell just past her shoulders, and her green gradient bangs framed her green eyes, currently colored by purple contacts. She looked so mad. 

I was in a no better mood. "Give me back my test," I said in a low voice. 

"Oh, about that," Johana snarled. "Why are you still alive? If I had these grades in eleventh grade, Ellie would have killed me on spot." 

I knew why Mom didn't kill me. She knew I wasn't as smart as Johana or our older brother Terrik. But I would never admit that to Johana. Even if she already knew it. 

"Give me. My test. Now," I repeated. 

Tag stiffened behind me. "You might want to be careful," he whispered. The last time Johana and I fought, it had been bloody. 

If looks could kill, those purple contacts of Johana's would have killed Tag. "Shut up, you little-" 

Suddenly, the house chimed. "Hey, I'm home," Mom's voice played through the house. "I'm ordering pizza. Come downstairs, kids." 

Johana stubbornly stuffed the receipt into my hand. "Next time you won't be so lucky, bonehead," she spit at me. 

"It wouldn't have to be this way if you weren't so average," I snarled, but I knew that wasn't true. The problem was I was stupid for my own family. 

"Come on, Tag. Let's go swimming out back," I said. "Pizza can wait."


	2. Worries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one could be more worried about Amery's future than her mom.

 

Ellie sat in bed, unable to fall asleep. A letter had come in starting her daughter Amery wouldn't be matched if she didn't get her grades up. 

"How did we go wrong?" Ellie wondered. "How did my baby not make it?"

Her husband, Selvin, sighed. "It's not out fault, Ellie. Amery's just not a math and science person," he soothed. 

"But genetics," Ellie said. "They say talents are passed down. This whole system is built on this principle. We're geneticists. We know how this works. Why Ame?"

Selvin leaned over and held Ellie. "Don't stress. It's just matching that she's out of. She hasn't been filtered by careers yet." 

"Not yet," Ellie pointed out. "With her grades, they will filter her out of careers, and maybe even slate her for termination." 

Selvin sucked in a breath. "I won't let them. They can't terminate Amery. I'll refuse it." 

"You can't refuse anything," Ellie said, tears filling her eyes, threatening to fall. "It's the council's decision. We can't do anything about it." 

Selvin was silent. "She has to do better," Ellie pressed. "Maybe we should tell her to study." 

"Studying is against the rules," Selvin reminded. "If the wardens catch her, they'll suspend her." 

Ellie felt a tear slide down her cheek, burning it's way down her face. "I'm only forty. I can't lose my baby now, I can't lose Ame. Not after how well Terrik and Johana have done. They can't do this to me, can they?" 

"Ellie, don't stress," Selvin repeated. "We'll figure something out. Just not at two in the morning." 

Ellie lay back in the bed, snuggling up with Selvin. "Okay, I'll think about this later," she relented. 

Finally, Ellie and Selvin, the top students of their classes way back when, willed themselves into dreamless sleep. 


	3. Transfer

"Wake up, Ame," Tag teased, poking me in the shoulder. I just slept through another note taking class of Integrated Science-Math. Today's lesson was something about slope triangles and three laws of something. I hated all that.

"Can you send me the notes through Mind-Sphere?" I asked him. We shared everything on Mind-Sphere and the Web, another type of internet.

"Sure thing. You coming to my house, right?" Tag asked, walking towards the public bus station.

"Oh yeah. Of course."

Tag didn't have his own smart-drive car like me, so he took the bus. On these days, I take the bus with him.

We got on the bus early, taking a seat near the back. I always liked the back. There were fewer teachers to holler at you and tell you what a bonehead you were.

"Do you like chocolate, or gummies?" Tag asked me. It was a game we'd started since he met me in second grade. We were supposed to guess what each other had.

I gave him a playful look. "Well, chocolate is way too expensive for you, so I assume gummies," I responded.

His mischievous grin grew larger. "Wrong! I've got some chocolate!" he exclaimed, showing me a candy bar. It was one of my favorites, and I pulled one of my backpack.

"And you can have mine, too." Tag's family was no where near as rich as mine, and chocolate was a rationed item.

"Ohmygod, I love you!" Tag shouted, then, realizing what he said, added, "You know, not in a weird way, just that you're nice."

I smiled. "I know what you mean. Now let's get off this bus before it leaves your stop," I said. He looked shocked, as if noticing for the first time that the bus was stationary.

We walked to Tag's house, which was about two kilometers away from the station. By the time we reached his bedroom, I was ready to take a nap. Tag might have been used to this, but my car took me straight to the driveway.

"Amery, I know we aren't doing all that well in school," Tag said. "We probably won't be matched, and very few at careers will even consider picking us." He could have gone further, but he didn't. No one wanted to hear they could very well die by twenty-one. That was four years away, anyway.

"Yeah, but we don't need to talk about that now," I said. I glanced at his door, half expecting a hollow-cam watching and recording our every move, but this was Tag's house in the middle of the Worker's Circle. The council didn't care what happened here.

"Yeah, we do," Tag argued. "We're in eleventh grade. Careers will happen next year, then the year after that will be matching. And then when we're twenty-one, they'll be the exit exam, and then..." He didn't continue. He didn't have to. No one liked hearing about their own death.

"So?" I asked. "What can we do about this? What can we possible do to be _smart_? We weren't born that way, and they know it! That's why they're doing it!"

"They don't have to, but they do. We don't have to look this way. Look at this," Tag said, making a Mind-Sphere gesture with is his fingers. I checked my Mind-Sphere, finding a form floating in my eyescreen.

"Transfer from Diego to Itex," I read out loud. It said that anyone who graduated eleventh grade could skip twelfth grade and careers. They'd be moved to another city-state, Itex, and live out the rest of their lives there. Well, as long as the council approved.

"Isn't this great?" Tag asked, his eyes alight with excitement. "No careers, no matching, and no termination 'cause there won't be the exit exam!"

I kept reading, looking for a loophole that would end this holiday-like leave.

"Must get consent from at least one parent or guardian and two council members," I read to Tag. "How are we going to get that?"

"My mom already signed off, and we are talking to Council Members Zoë and Lupin," Tag said triumphantly.

"Um, I'm not sure about my folks," I said. They wanted me to do something in the world, like they did, or even what Johana and Terrik did. They probably didn't want me leaving the city to some far off place with a name that sounded like a goat.

"Well, you should think about it," Tag suggested. "It wouldn't be half as fun without you."

"Thanks," I replied. "I'll see if I can play on Ellie's more emotional side."

"Don't forget to mention the matching," Tag said with a wink.

"No more talk about this transfer," I said. "Let's get down to homework."

"Whatever you say, Queen Bonehead," he joked.

I punched him in the arm playfully. "Don't forget you're a bonehead, too."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring Break is here and Spring Break in Diego is like Winter Break. No school, all the family home, the whole ball park. But Amery has never been close to her siblings before, and now they're all home, reminding her who she really is. A bonehead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fourth chapter! Yeah! It took me so long to write this, you couldn't believe! And it is, sadly, only so long. Well, I made up the Spring Break thing, but if spring was celebrated as a festival, this is how I'd want it to be done!

Two weeks had passed since Tag had introduced the city transfer option. Spring break had just begun, and not only Johana and her boyfriend Assic were here, but Terrik, his wife Janice, and their little boy Fausto were home, too. Our entire extended family was here. Off course, Terrik was going back and forth between Janice's house and mine, but seeing them again made me go insane.

"How are you doing, little girl?" Terrik teased.

"Shut up!" I barked. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"I haven't seen you in years!" Terrik claimed.

"Not true. Only five months," I snapped.

"Okay, fine. But I miss my baby sister. I was already five when you were born."

Knowing Terrik, he didn't miss me. He only cared about Janice and little Fausto.

"You don't have to lie every time you see me," I told him.

"What if I'm not–" he started, but Fausto's excited scream cut him off.

"Auntie Ame!" Fausto exclaimed. He gave me a big hug, and started telling me about his week. He really was a cute three-year-old.

"Daddy brought me to the museum and we saw a bottle of refined petroleum," he said.

I gave Terrik the look. He was an archeologist and all that, but very few people made it, so it was pointless to get his son so worked up about it.

"I liked it, too," he responded. "Come on, Fausto buddy, let's go see Mom."

I let them walk out of the smaller living room, and I sat down and picked up a tablet. Most people my age prefer to read on mind-sphere, but I still liked eBooks from the World Wide Web.

Halfway through _Emily's Escape,_ I heard Johana's booming voice. "Look at the little bonehead," she said. "Seventeen years old and still reading seventh grade material on a tablet, no less."

"Just because you mastered this book in seventh grade doesn't mean it's seventh grade material," I scoffed. "Besides, it says high school level."

"Whatever." Johana came over and sat on the next to me. "How are you doing, Ame?"

"You saw me two days ago," I protested. Spring break was when my siblings pretended they didn't hate me. It never amounted to anything as soon as the Spring Festival was over.

"I know," she said. "But how are you doing now?" She started moving her fingers, obviously browsing her Mind-Sphere.

"Who do you do this?" I shouted. "Why do you pretend so darn hard if you actually hate me?"

Johana's eyes actually focused on my face. "Because I don't' actually hate you. I never did. I'm just worried about you. I don't' want it to happen … when you turn twenty-one."

"Oh, yeah right," I bit back. "You would love to see me die. You probably dream about it."

"No! Of course not," she protested. "You're my sister. I don't want anything to happen to you. All my anger, that's all fear."

"If you can say this after Friday, I'll think about it." I got up and walked away.

"No, Ame, just hear me out!" Johana begged. It would have been so much easier to believe her if she didn't walk in pointing out how stupid I was. I walked up the stairs and into my bedroom, flopping onto my bed. The bed heater immediately kicked on, as if it didn't know it was already spring.

"Room, turn off the bed heat," I commanded.

"Yes, Lady Carol," it responded. The heat turned off immediately.

I hated my sibling's sympathy almost more than their teasing. They were always showing off how smart they were, how much like Selvin and Ellie they were.

I heard footsteps ascending the stairs. "Room, close and lock room door," I said.

The door swung shut and the lock clicked. "Yes, Lady Carol," the room responded. Sometimes, the only guarantee in life was that the main computer worked 24/7.

Bored, I decided to video Tag through Mind-Sphere. Scrolling through all my useless contacts, I found Tag's name. He answered almost immediately. He was probably as bored as I was.

"I'm guessing you're as bored as me," he said. I was right. His house was probably empty, since he didn't have any siblings.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm guessing you're parents aren't bugging you the way Terrik and Johana are bugging me." Tag's parents worked most days, and spring break was probably no exception.

"Well, nope. But could you sneak over to my place for a few hours?" Tag asked.

"Can't. We're having dinner soon," I said. "You can come over, though, since you're alone. When are Kris and Bria coming home?"

Tag's parents Kris and Bria Smith worked until late, so he usually could sneak to my house, as long as my parents didn't find out.

"They're not coming home at all 'til tomorrow afternoon," Tag said. "You know, they don't get spring break off like the smarts do."

"Then come. You'll have to hide in the closet during dinner, but after that, it shouldn't be too lonely," I offered.

Tag chuckled. "And that's okay just because your closet is almost as big as my bedroom? Kay, then. Bye," he said.

I laughed. "Bye." I turned off my eyescreen and waited for dinner to start. Dinner with Terrik and Johana. Boring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much happened this chapter, but I had to advance the story. Next chapter will be better.


End file.
